Through all the good times and bad times of my high school career, I’ve learned an incredible amount, not only about the world we live in, but also about who I am. High school is full of firsts:  the first time to drive a car (legally, at least), first time going to a formal dance, first time going to a unsupervised party and the first time I thought. I gained a lot more freedom when I entered high school, which meant there wasn’t always an adult around to tell me what to do and how to do it. I was thrown into a new world with no compass and no map. I began solving my own problems, dealing with my own unpleasant situations and every time I learned something new.

      Through all these experiences I recognized what kind of people I enjoy the company of and what kind I should cut ties with. I learned how to deal with all the stresses of academics and the stresses of the high school social circles. And, I discovered how to keep it cool while facing it all. When I look back through my high school years, I laugh at what I thought to be the end of the world and I think, “If only I had known then what I know now.” The truth is, all the “horrible, terrible” things that we “endure” don’t matter as much as we think they do. At the end of my high school career, the world is still here and I’m still around to say things like, “That’s what’s up.”

     To everyone who will still be stuck here next year, don’t take yourself so seriously, because in the end, it probably doesn’t matter anyways.